NEIGHBOURS AND STRANGERS - Medium Aevum Conference 2017

How did medieval individuals and communities engage with those around them, both locally and further afield? In what ways did textual, performative and interpretative practices serve to police, challenge or re-negotiate these relationships? And where were distinctions between neighbours and strangers unstable, ambiguous or malleable?

In 2017, at a moment when relationships between international neighbours are the focus of intense political attention, and fraught conversations continue about how we might construct ‘neighbours’ and ‘strangers’ within our communities, this one-day conference will turn these charged, timely questions of identity and interaction back to the Middle Ages.